Owner Killed and 3 Others Shot in Barbershop

By MICHAEL WILSON and MATTHEW SWEENEY

Published: October 10, 2005

An owner of a barbershop in Upper Manhattan was killed yesterday afternoon when a disgruntled former owner of the shop walked in and shot him and three other men, the police said.

The gunman, identified by the police as Eddy Espinal, 40, was arrested around the corner from the shop, which is on St. Nicholas Avenue near West 189th Street in Fort George, after a passing police officer saw him running away. Officers found a long-barreled pistol that he had tossed under a car, the police said. Last night, he was charged with second-degree murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, the police said.

The shooting happened just after 3 p.m., at the Franklin & Ernesto Barber Shop, at 1577 St. Nicholas Avenue.

Mr. Espinal entered the shop and fired six shots at the two current owners, emptying his revolver, the police said.

The two other men who were wounded may have been customers and did not seem to be targets, the police said. They were hit by bullets that had already passed through one of the owners. The man who was killed, identified by a co-worker as Ernesto Filpo, 25, was struck four times -- in the shoulder, thigh, leg and back; he was pronounced dead a short time later at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the police said.

The other owner, identified by the police as Franklin Rodney, 31, was shot in the stomach and was listed in critical condition at the same hospital. Mr. Rodney is the father of four children, ranging in age from 4 months to 4 years, said the co-worker, Fran Rosario.

The other two men, identified by the police as Cabrera Bienvenido, 40, and Kelvin Chico, 21, were in stable condition at Harlem Hospital Center.

A neighbor, Sandra Clark-Silverio, 50, said the new owners took over the shop about eight or nine months ago. She called Mr. Filpo a ''hard-working guy.'' A friend, Jose Lopez, said Mr. Filpo, who came to New York from Santiago in the Dominican Republic about eight years ago, started cutting hair in his home there when he was about 14.

The previous owner, Mr. Espinal, and the two current owners once worked together, cutting hair at a shop across the street called Chiqui's, said Candida Cruz, 62, the mother of a new owner of Chiqui's.

She said of Mr. Espinal: ''He was always serious. He didn't talk to nobody.''

Mr. Espinal left Chiqui's and opened the shop across the street, she said. He eventually lost it, and it was taken over by Mr. Filpo and Mr. Franklin, Ms. Cruz said, adding: ''People say he came in so many times. He'd say, 'That's my job, that's my job,' because he lost it.''

Yesterday evening, there was blood on the shop floor, but none of the mirrors on the walls were damaged.

Mr. Rosario said that Mr. Filpo and Mr. Rodney made renovations and were enjoying a successful business after Mr. Espinal's departure. In an attempt to reclaim the barbershop, Mr. Espinal took them to court a few months ago, Mr. Rosario said. Since then, Mr. Espinal came into the barbershop twice, Mr. Rosario said.

The first time, he did not say anything, Mr. Rosario said. The second time, he said, Mr. Espinal sat down, had a haircut, and then complained that the barber had not done a good job.

Mr. Rosario, who had left the shop immediately before the shooting, said that Pedro Paulo, a cousin of Mr. Filpo's, was in the shop at the time and chased Mr. Espinal down St. Nicholas Avenue after the shooting. He said that Mr. Espinal turned to fire at the man but that his gun was empty.

Photo: Detectives and police investigators at the Franklin & Ernesto Barber Shop, at 1577 St. Nicholas Avenue. (Photo by Robert Stolarik for The New York Times)